Archive for the 'Inspirational Stories' Category

The statements below are taken from actual insurance accident claims
forms, thank goodness they are not OUR clients! They are real,
however (you can’t make up this kind of stuff). Read ’em and laugh
and be glad it wasn’t you.

No one was to blame for the accident but it would never have happened if the other driver had been alert.

I didn’t think the speed limit applied after midnight.

The indirect cause of the accident was a little guy in a small car with a big mouth.

I was on the way to the doctor with rear end trouble when my universal joint gave way causing me to have an accident.

On approach to the traffic lights the car in front suddenly broke.

The accident was caused by me waving to the man I hit last week.

Windshield broke. Cause unknown. Probably Voodoo.

The accident happened when the right front door of a car came round the corner without giving a signal.

I had been driving for forty years when I fell asleep at the wheel and had an accident.

I left for work this morning at 7am as usual when I collided straight into a bus. The bus was 5 minutes early.

An invisible car came out of nowhere, struck my car and vanished.

I knew the dog was possessive about the car but I would not have asked her to drive it if I had thought there was any risk.

The accident happened because I had one eye on the truck in front, one eye on the pedestrian, and the other on the car behind.

I was thrown from my car as it left the road. I was later found in a ditch by some stray cows.

The telephone pole was approaching. I was attempting to swerve out of the way when I struck the front end.

Coming home I drove into the wrong house and collided with a tree I don’t have.

I told the police that I was not injured, but on removing my hat found that I had a fractured skull.

I pulled away from the side of the road, glanced at my mother-in-law and headed over the embankment.

I thought my window was down, but I found it was up when I put my head through it.

As I approached an intersection a sign suddenly appeared in a place where no stop sign had ever appeared before. I was unable to stop in time to avoid the accident.

A retired Dean from the University of Buffalo Law School, Dad was my idol and mentor in life. He taught me all about finances, the value of a good education and how to be a good husband and father. This past year however, his memory skills and response time have faded. He sometimes appeared lost and confused when driving to the grocery store or coffee shop. When asked why it took so long to return home, more often than not he couldn’t give us an acceptable answer.

It was time to have the talk with our 83-year old dad. Although we knew it would be difficult, my oldest sister Lisa (a nurse) and I visited with him and explained that, in the interest of safety, it may be wise for him to no longer drive. I put a note on the refrigerator reminding him of an agreement not to drive alone. Fortunately, Mom is still able to drive to the coffee shop and his regular medical appointments. We hid the car keys and eventually sold one of their cars.

I must honestly and proudly state that Dad has been a good sport here, and rarely questioned our decision. We now can sleep better knowing he, as well as many innocent drivers and pedestrians are safe.

Road Fitness
Today, Seventy-eight percent of Americans 70 or older still drive, according to the Institute for Highway Safety. That’s up from 73 percent in 1997, a trend that’s expected to continue as baby boomers age.
Several skills, specifically vision, response time and neuromuscular control, worsen with age. It’s also clear that driving skills can deteriorate as cognitive abilities – memory, language, perception, reasoning, and thinking – decline.

In April 2010, the American Academy of Neurology issued guidelines to help doctors decide when a patient should stop driving. They offer a few indicators of decreased driving ability: A crash in the past year to five years, a traffic citation in the past two years, or an aggressive or impulsive personality. Other ailments that can impede driving include glaucoma, angina, arthritis, respiratory illness and neurologic conditions such as Parkinson’s disease.
To avoid a tragedy, family and caregivers should discuss a loved one’s recent driving history and health, and observe their driving behaviors. Make plans for proper ways to have a frank discussion with them about their future driving and seek potential alternatives for transportation. And don’t forget to tell them that you love them.

Last November I traveled to Florida with Erie Insurance’s Management Team to discuss marketing and the growth of our company. At one of the evening sessions we were thrilled to meet our special guest, Lou Holtz. Mr. Holtz is an inspirational miracle worker who guided Notre Dame to 9 football bowl games and a National Championship. I was honored to sit with Lou at the head table and chat with him personally about his current role as an ESPN College Football studio analyst. For a 73-year old (5’10 and 151 lbs.) who talks with a lisp he was one of the sharpest leaders I have ever seen. Harvey Mackay calls him “The best motivational speaker in the world.”

Here’s my take on Lou Holtz philosophy on life
and how to create a winning team of employees:

Your talent determines what you can do. Your motivation determines
how much you are willing to do. Your attitude determines how well
you do it.

Winners and losers aren’t born; they are products of how they think.
You never hear about mothers giving birth to lawyers, doctors, scientists or
even insurance agents. They give birth to sons and daughters. What those individuals become is a matter of the choices they make. You ultimately decide whether you succeed or not.

What our Customers mean to us –
– customers are the most important part of our business,
– customers do not depend on us, we depend on them,
– customers never interrupt our work, they are our work,
– customers bring us their wants, we fulfill them.

“I never put the names on the backs of our Notre Dame players’ uniform,” says Holtz. “There is no ‘I’ in the word “team.”